Leicester's pre-season is a new world: From Burton to Barcelona

By Adam Bate

Image: Leicester's players are enjoying a different type of pre-season this year

Leicester City's status as Premier League champions has propelled them into a new world this summer.

The Foxes have traded the trips to Sincil Bank and Field Mill for the more exotic environs of California and Stockholm as part of their pre-season preparations.

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So while the total attendance for their five pre-season games in 2015 was just 21,854, Claudio Ranieri's men can count on playing to considerably larger crowds one year on.

There is likely to be more than that at Celtic Park alone on Saturday when Leicester take on Scottish champions Celtic to kick off their involvement in the International Champions Cup.

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A year and a day after Riyad Mahrez opened the scoring in a 2-1 win at Rotherham in front of 3,678 fans, there will be another delicious contrast for Leicester's heroes.

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They will continue their International Champions Cup experience by facing French champs Paris Saint-Germain at the StubHub Center in California, the home of Los Angeles Galaxy.

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But perhaps the biggest summer reward for all of last season's endeavours comes when the team returns from the United States for the final game of the global tournament.

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Leicester take on the champions of Spain and four-time European Cup winners Barcelona in Stockholm on August 3.

Leicester's friendlies in 2015

Date Opponent Venue Score Attendance
Jul 21 Lincoln Sincil Bank 3-1 3,693
Jul 25 Mansfield Field Mill 1-1 4,273
Jul 28 Burton Pirelli Stadium 2-1 3,184
Jul 29 Rotherham New York Stadium 2-1 3,678
Aug 1 Birmingham St Andrew's 3-2 7,026

Four days after that it's off to Wembley for the curtain raiser to the English season as they contest the Community Shield against Jose Mourinho's Manchester United.

It's a far cry from their final warm-up game of last season - a 3-2 win over Birmingham at St Andrews's that included Shinji Okazaki's first goal in a Leicester shirt.

Image: Ranieri will take charge of the team in games against PSG and Barcelona

And yet, it's worth noting that the Foxes were unbeaten in those five matches, winning four and drawing one, thus building momentum that they were able to carry into the campaign.

That'll be a tougher challenge against the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, but nobody at Leicester is likely to be complaining too much about that…

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All of Leicester's International Champions Cup games can be seen live on Sky Sports 1 HD

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